Posts under ‘Ask Amanda’

My phone rang as I tried to shed the winter layers of puffy down coat, hat, scarves (yes, it’s so cold I’ve been layering two), and fleece zip-up. I wouldn’t have answered, but it was a college friend I’ve been playing social media tag with for a few days.

“Hey,” I said breathlessly.

He laughed. “Uh, hi. Is it a good time?”

“Yes! I just walked up three flights, and I’m taking my coat off. But yes!”

“Three flights?” He asked. “You moved from the old place?” He meant the tiny, ground floor studio on Central Park West. “You loved it there.”

“Did not.”

“I thought you did.”

“I loved it, because I had to,” I reasoned. “I’ve moved on.”

Here’s a question from Anna:

There’s nothing too unique about my NYC story.

I visited for the first time when I young and impressionable and barely giving my training bra a workout.

Like many people from small towns where everyone knows everyone (and probably also that person’s brother and no good cousin Petey), I was blown away.

This city full of bustling strangers, culture, both history and the future, this is where I’d live someday when I grew up.

Maybe by then I’d have boobs, too.

Here’s a question from Luisa:

New Yorkers have a reputation for being unfriendly. This isn’t news to anyone.

And that stereotype? Sometimes true. People are busy and gruff sometimes. Many come here to “make it” in some capacity and only look out for themselves.

I moved to NYC with exactly zero friends or family members waiting for me. I didn’t worry about loneliness, because I’ve always been independent and to put it nicely, blunt.

But even the snarkiest introverts need someone to love them. I mean, especially those types. A cactus needs sunshine. You get where I’m going?

Here’s a question from Lisette:

Before I moved to NYC, I did the typical tourist thing a few times and stayed at midtown hotels rife with dust mites and other tourists.

Because people visit NYC to see other people who are visiting NYC, right?

Then I spent a few spring breaks traveling with groups from college. We visited with a mission: to work at a non-profit by day and spend every other minute doing something urban and exciting. We didn’t plan to get much sleep, so no one was picky about lodgings.

And this is how I ended up sleeping at an old firehouse-cum-flophouse with toilets that didn’t flush and open shower stalls. And have I got a contact dermatitis story for you!

I also once stayed at a Y.M.C.A. Don’t believe the song - it’s not that fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A.

Here’s a question from Sid:

I’ve only purchased a one-way ticket once in my life. It was my last trip to NYC the summer after I graduated college. That time, I wasn’t flying back home with mere prospects or the cushion of the future. I was moving by staying still.

I recently wrote about my dad leaving me in NYC once and for all, how I cried and stayed in the rest of the night. It felt weird to walk around in a new place knowing I couldn’t possibly bump into anyone or anything I knew.

My first few weeks here involved long trips on foot during the day and nights in with movies from the library. Starting my teaching job opened the city up to me, as did dating. Now I’m either in my apartment writing or sleeping, or I’m out doing everything else I do. This unfamiliar, gray place has been home for nearly four years.

Here’s a question from Leah: